Social media marketing authority Ken Herron offers solid advice with a twist, comparing Disney’s Seven Dwarfs and the seven mainstream social networks: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, SlideShare, Twitter, YouTube — and ‘almost Dwarfs’ Google+ and Vine — sure to have a major impact on your business.
In this, the 100th episode (!) of the podcast series Mobile Presence on the WebmasterRadio.fm network, Ken tells marketers how to distinguish between the leading social networks based on what they want to communicate (and to whom) and the business objectives they want to achieve.
Here are some key tips and takeaways from the show, the first in a two-part series dedicated to the do’s and don’ts of social media marketing. Part 2, which airs on May 28, zeroes in on the ‘born mobile’ social networks (for example: Whisper and Snapchat) and how to harness these hot social media tools to get the best results for your brand.
Why Seven Dwarfs? Because just as Snow White was no doubt overwhelmed by the task of understanding the seven diamond miners, marketers must also get their head around the mainstream social networks and the defining characteristics of each. Cracking the code here is the key to a happy ending for your brand!
Ken’s Social Media Crash Course
First, a successful social media strategy is all-inclusive. Don’t pick and choose between networks. Make sure you have a profile on each and every social network that allows you to have a profile. Otherwise you’re leaving money on the table and potentially causing problems in the future when another person takes your brand name to create an account. “When your boss asks ‘where’s our Snapchat account?’, and it’s squatted by some teenager, you’re going to have some real explaining to do.”
Facebook:
This network used to offer huge value, but Ken points out that might be dwindling away faster than the graphs can track it. At the start marketers knew the lion’s share of content they created would be shown to their opted-in ‘subscribers.’ “Now it’s hovering at 2-2.5%, and brands are pulling out.” But this may be fatal mistake since brands have to have a presence everywhere — period. Ken reminds us that 2% of a very large number is still a very big number. If you don’t buy into this, then at least maintain your presence on Facebook, with all your visual assets, and point your audience to where they are sure to find you.
Instagram & Pinterest:
Visual assets and interaction are a brand must – so stand up and take notice of these networks! In the case of Instagram, its rate of growth is outpacing Twitter. Follow your demographic. Pinterest has a high percentage of female users, so, if you have a brand targeting women, you know where you have to be. Don’t know if your audience is on Instagram or Pinterest? Then ask them. “And don’t ask them once. This is not a set it and forget it strategy, you need to continually ask them where they are, because it’s changing constantly.”
Twitter:
Is Twitter is doomed? That is a topic of hot debate. Meantime, marketers must accept that Twitter has become part of our mainstream culture. Twitter has rapidly become a form of mass media. Remember, people on Twitter are still getting value, even if they are not actively publishing or tweeting.
Vine:
Don’t write it off. Many Marketers initially thought Twitter, with its 140 characters, would also never take off — and look at how wrong they were. The shift is already happening and the 30-second rule of TV/video (you need to grab the audience attention in the first 30 seconds) is being rewritten by Vine. Now you need to grab your audience’s attention in just six seconds!
LinkedIn:
This is the social network to use if you’re going after the B2B audience. Of course, you get what you pay for. LinkedIn Is not cheap, but the targeting is effective and you can count on getting a high conversion rate.
SlideShare:
Owned by LinkedIn, SlideShare is “one of the real hidden jewels” of B2B marketing. It has “incredible SEO” and is an “insanely effective way to get out there and get found, not just by the search engines but by the people who are interested in your topics.”
YouTube:
This is the place your video assets need to be if the end-game is to catch people’s imagination and — ultimately — go viral.
Google+:
Don’t get distracted by reports that say Google has failed. Use Google+ to market to Google. Ken advises a “trans-publishing strategy” to squeeze the most value out of this network.
Download the podcast here [30 minutes]
My take:
Ken Herron (@kenherron) is ‘THE MAN’ when it comes to social media marketing, and this show will tell you why. An authority on what you need to know to harness social media for your business and a contributing author to many of my books and reports, Ken stands out as a cool hunter for new ideas, strategies, and technologies to empower marketers to develop stronger emotional connections between their companies and their customers to drive revenue and market share. Tune in on May 28, when Ken walks us through the do’s and don’ts of the mobile-only, messaging-based social networks Snapchat, Whisper, Secret, Yik Yak, Truth and Confide.
About Mobile Presence:Mobile Presence shows, which I co-host each week, air Wednesdays @ 3pm EST and are archived on the WebmasterRadio.FM website. The podcasts are also distributed via iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn and Zune Marketplace, as well as the WMR mobile app for iPhone and Android. Audience reach across these channels exceeds 200,000 downloads per month, or over 2 million downloads per year. More recently, WMR — including Mobile Presence — has sealed a syndication deal with iHeartRadio. This network, which aggregates audio content from over 800 local Clear Channel radio stations across the U.S., as well as hundreds of other stations and various other media, reaches 243+ million monthly consumers and counts 350 million mobile app downloads and 7 million active daily users on their talk radio platform.
#DearKen: Help Me Understand How, When & Where To Use Hashtags!
Bake Social Into Your App To Succeed